Image Use Guidance For Wedding Suppliers

Hello lovely wedding supplier! The chances are you’re on this page because we’ve worked together on a wedding recently and perhaps you’d like to use some of the images for your business. Absolutely! I love making wedding industry friends and I’m happy to share images from any of my weddings (with the permission of the couple) with the other businesses involved.

Image usage can be a bit of a minefield though and sometimes causes problems. So I’ve put together this really simple guide which will hopefully help you.

Do I need to ask your permission to use images from a wedding we worked on together?

Yes please! Obviously because it’s the polite thing to do but also because as the person who took the image, I legally own the copyright to it. So you can’t use the image in any way commercially without asking for permission first.

But the couple sent them over to me…

This happens a lot and isn’t it lovely of them to share? But my couples only have a personal usage license. That means they can do whatever they like with their images as long as it falls under personal use. Any use by a business comes under commercial use. I go through this in their wedding contract but in all the excitement and planning of the day it can get forgotten.

So, do I need to pay for the images?

Nope! I love sharing my images with other wedding businesses and I’m happy to supply you with high or low resolution images to be used online or on printed material. I don’t ask for payment but I do ask to be properly credited.

A link to my website www.racheljoycephotography.co.uk is perfect.

I know that running a small business can be costly – and commercial photography rates can cost £500-£1000 per day. So sharing images in return for a credit or a backlink is great for everyone involved – you get professional pictures without the price tag which benefits your business and I hopefully get some exposure for my business too. Win-Win!

What if we don’t want to credit you?

Let’s say you’re preparing some printed material, a promotional banner or a brochure and you’d rather not clutter it up with extra wording. That’s fine – you’ve got the option to purchase any of the images for £50 each (p.s. – this is a super cheap price for commercial photography). With that purchase you’ll get commercial usage allowing you to use it online, in brochures and in any marketing materials without crediting me. Use it as many times as you like for as long as you like. If you want to purchase a few images I’ll happily offer you a discount.

Ok….what if we don’t want to credit you or pay?

Well in that case we can’t be friends. And you definitely can’t use my images. Sorry 🙁 If you choose to use images without permission or credit online or in printed material be prepared for the chance that you might just get an invoice through the post (and it definitely won’t be for the super-cheap price I mentioned above).

Can I edit the images?

No sorry – aside from a reasonable amount of cropping the images need to stay the same. They are a representation of my style.

I hope that answers your questions but if you have any more feel free to contact me – rachel@racheljoycephotography.co.uk